The present invention is related to a container for storing magnetic discs, and more particularly to a compact container having storage slots which receive the discs in a stair-step manner, so that the identifying label at the top of each disc is always visible.
Magnetic discs (sometimes known as "floppy disks" in order to distinguish them from hard discs) are frequently used with data processing equipment, such as computers or dedicated word processing machines, for storage of a large number of bits representing information. This information includes programs, such as disc operating systems, utilities programs, word processing programs, etc., and data that are used with such programs. For example a large number of discs might be used with a word processing program for chapters of a book or letters to customers.
A magnetic disc includes a circular sheet of plastic which is coated with a layer of magnetic material such as iron oxide particles. The circular sheet has a central aperture by which the sheet may be engaged by a disc drive to rotate the sheet. One or two magnetic read/write heads provided by the disc drive are moved across one or both surfaces of the plastic, as it rotates, in order to sense a stream of bits recorded in the magnetic layer or store a bit stream in the magnetic layer.
Due to the fragility of the magnetic layers, discs are permanently installed in protective jackets having circular apertures concentric with the central aperture in the plastic sheet and having elongated apertures so that the read/write heads can come into contact with the magnetic layers. These protective jackets may be hard or soft. The popular 51/4 inch disc, for example, employs a soft square permanent jacket which is frequently made of vinyl plastic sheet. It is common to use a label at the upper border or upper left-hand corner of such a permanent jacket to identify the disc contents. In addition to the permanent jackets, discs are usually sold with open-mouthed removable sleeves which cover the lower portions of the permanent jackets. The term "disc" will be used to refer to the combination of the coated plastic sheet and one or more "envelopes"; that is, the permanent protective jacket with or without a removable sleeve.
The recording medium of a disc remains susceptible to damage despite the envelopes. The apertures of the permanent jacket may allow grit to enter, and finger prints on the recording surface through the head apertures of the permanent envelope are also a source of trouble. The recording media may also be damaged by pressure received through the envelopes, as when a disk is on a cluttered desk beneath a paper which is written on with a ballpoint pen. This susceptibility to damage, plus the natural tendency to maintain a collection of discs together, has led to a variety of disk storage containers.
The typical disc storage container tends to be bulky, much like a container for index cards. With such a container the operator must thumb through the discs until he finds the one he wants. The problem is exacerbated because there is no convenient way to return a disc to its previous location after use, so that the position of a particular disc within the container is frequently changed.